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Cognitive Dissonance is a regular Monday feature in which a post is presented that, if read, may provoke “a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth.” I hope these pieces will provoke thought, if not conversation.

If you read about golf or blogs or transgender issues (or all three), you have probably seen this mix of stories unfold over the past two weeks, but if not, it is full of interesting points for discussion.

First there was a story about a putter, published on (ESPN owned) Grantland, that was then pushed out by various means to much acclaim, initially. And then a backlash began. The story, which began as an exploration of a putter and its inventor, morphs into a detective story that features the debunking of various aspects of the life of the inventor (credentials and work experience), but then becomes something else when the author finds out about the inventor’s status as a transgender woman. In the time period between the writer’s initial work on the article and its publishing, Essay Anne Vanderbilt (a.k.a., Dr. V, the inventor of the putter) committed suicide.

UPDATE: ESPN’s Ombudsman has published an article about the whole thing that describes it as “Understandable, Inexcusable” and runs through a lot of interesting issues from the publishing/reporting/editing side of things, as well as from the human/ethical side of things. Also, the Arizona Republicpublished a story that includes material gathered from interviewing Essay Anne Vanderbilt’s girlfriend and business partner.